What are MUFAs?

Plant-based fats found in some of your favourite foods such as olive oil, mono-unsaturated fatty acids - aka MUFAs (pronounced moofahs) - are so delish you may have spent your life feeling guilty for eating them or deliberately avoiding them because you believed they couldn’t possibly be healthy. Thank goodness for ever evolving nutritional science!

In short, not all fats are created equal. The fats in these foods work hard to protect your heart by lowering your risk for things like artery- clogging high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes. MUFA-rich foods (check out our favourites to add to your grocery shop - how does avo for lunch sound?) also help boost immune function, protect against certain diseases, and new research shows they’re good at helping reduce belly fat. That’s fab news for fitting into that cute little black dress, but even better news for your overall health; carrying extra fat around the middle is risky business.

Don’t go crazy though. It’s still wise to keep your total daily fat intake to around 30 per cent. MUFAs contain the same number of kJs as any other type of fat, they just give you a better run for your money! Your best bet is to include them instead of, not in addition to, saturated fats like the kind found in cakes, fast food, chips and biscuits. Simple.